By: Aruna Kamara (BO)
The Bo District Agricultural Officer (DAF), Saidu Bamayangeh has disclosed that Bo District is assured of having a bumper harvest this year as they have cultivated rice amounting to over seven hundred hectares of land.
Speaking to A-Z Newspaper in an upbeat mood, Mr. Bamayangeh said that Bo district is leading in achieving food security in the country as they have been able to satisfy the farmers by making sure that seeds are distributed earlier this year.
According to him, the government through the ministry of agriculture planned very well by ensuring that they called the paramount chiefs including the women and youths to a meeting for them to know the target of every chiefdom in getting a bumper harvest this year, adding that the people made their commitment to achieving it.
The DAO said that they were called to a meeting where Bo District was praised in terms of seed harrowing, noting that in the meeting he pointed out that they have completed the seed harrowing and that was verified by a team from Freetown by visiting the planting sites.
He said that they were surprised to see rice growing above the kneel level in the swamps, stating further that he used his internal coordination to reach to the peak where they are now expecting a bumper harvest after they have provided quality seeds to the farmers.
The DAO said that this is a new direction for agriculture under the president Bio’s leadership, pointing out that the government provided harvesters in all the districts and Bo district has four harvesters.
He said that there is now a policy shift to a private sector led in order to achieve food security in the country, with the encouragement of people who are business minded to invest in the agriculture sector.
The Agricultural stated that they have people who are taking care of the machines such as agro-chemicals machines and fertilizers among others.
For Bo, he said the private sector provided all the rice seeds for the government to give the farmers and that the private sector should continue to have trust in the government to pay for the services they are providing.
